A ronin is visited by his valet who gathered 100 ryo to let him join a revenge campaign against a rival clan. He is conflicted: should he use that money to redeem his name, or to ransom a concubine that he fell for?

What follows is not a typical samurai film about the values and honor of the warrior caste, but a deconstruction of the trope of the honorable fighter, a push from the pedestal to pull them down to…

After finishing the film, I found out I had actually seen a dubbed version that was also heavily cut, which might explain why nothing really made any sense and felt really disjointed. The concept was pretty good, and there were some creepy scenes, but there was no rythm at all, and it felt as if the film was going nowhere. The long scenes of gathering evidence while being followed by an increasing number of henchmen were particularily mind-numbing.

Intense Film about the war in the Brazilian favelas and the people that participate in it. Much like City of God, Elite Squad simply shows you what is happening and forces you to make up your own mind about it. The issues presented are so complicated and the line between good and bad so blurred that it is hard to really root for any character. The direction during…

As short as it is, the depiction of people to whom faith has been cruel going to school, celebrating and thanking god for their existence is very powerful. The film does not shy away from depictions of disfigurement without giving the feeling that it wants to shock or force sympathy out of the viewer. The directors poems, as well as the verses from the koran, wich accompany the images as voice-over, only added to the profound impact this film had on me.